While the anxiety attacks are gone, and I feel really great most of the time, I am still a work in progress. I am eager to embrace what's ahead for me as I continue to grow and evolve. I truly feel lucky to be happier and healthier, but always learning.

In treating school refusal, it is critical to first conduct a functional analysis to determine why a child is refusing to go to school. School refusal is not a diagnosis; it is a symptom of a disorder.

How can we use this understanding of fear to help us tackle our biggest challenges? Luckily, very effective tools for facing fear have been developed to help treat individuals who suffer from too much fear (like certain types of anxiety disorders).

Many people with anxiety have difficulty gauging when tasks are completed to their satisfaction. But with enough practice and positive outcomes, you can recalibrate your internal thermometer to work better for you.

Something remarkable happens when you make contact with your fears: When you allow yourself to experience your deepest darkest thoughts, they immediately become less ominous. They become something you can observe and experience and move through.

You might strive to achieve a certain level of success in your chosen leisure activity, but the joy is truly in the doing and not in the outcome. This level of engagement is what makes it rejuvenating to your mind, body, and spirit.

If you can't seem to reduce your anxiety, ask yourself if there is purpose your anxiety is serving. Maybe your anxiety keeps you in a relationship or at a job that you're afraid to leave. If so, face those issues head on, until you are operating according to your choices -- not your anxiety!

Writing gratitude lists or journals, sending thank you notes and saying thank you are meaningful practices that help children, teens and adults embrace both the "me" and the "we" by seeing the positive impact that simple acts of kindness have on other people and themselves.

Most people don't understand how vital a role food plays in improving your mood. Trudy Scott, certified nutritionist (CN), educates women about the amazing healing powers of food and nutrients and helps them find natural solutions for anxiety and other mood-related issues.

Make a conscious choice to not go on the wild goose chase anxiety can launch, but know that you're better off without it. Instead, downgrade the importance of worry's messages and switch lines. The one without worry moves a lot faster.

Recent research suggests that anxiety makes people want to take advice to help them feel more confident about judgments and decisions they are making. However, they are so interested in getting advice that they become worse at judging whether the advice they are getting is good.

So what do you do when an everyday crisis overwhelms you? Get your brain under control and put in the groove. You do that using the power of active rest, using your brain the way it's designed to be used.